Wednesday, 5 August 2015

OBAMA ISSUES CHALLENGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE WITH POWER PLANT RULE

PresidentBarackObamachallenged America and the world to
step up efforts to fight global warming on Monday at the formal unveiling of
his administration's controversial, ramped-up plan to cut carbon emissions from
U.S. power plants.

U.S.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the Clean Power

Plan at the
White House in Washington August 3, 2015

Declaring
climate change the greatest threat facing the world, Obama said the regulation
requiring the power sector to cut its emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels
by 2030 would reduce Americans' energy bills and improve the health of
vulnerable populations nationwide.

The plan, which
also mandates a shift to renewable energy from coal-fired electricity, is meant
to put the United States in a strong position at international talks in Paris
later this year on reaching a deal to curb global warming.

Obama is
enacting the plan by executive order, bypassing Congress, which rejected
legislative attempts to reduce pollution from carbon dioxide, a common
greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for heating the earth.

The regulations
face certain legal challenges from states and industries, and their long-term
fate depends on their ability to withstand such challenges.

The Clean Power
Plan is intended to be a key part of the president's legacy on global warming,
which he pledged to fight as a candidate for the White House in 2008.

"We're the first generation to feel the
impact of climate change. We're the last generation that can do something about
it," Obama told a sympathetic audience at the White House.

"We only get one home. We only get one
planet. There's no plan B."

His announcement drew immediate condemnation
from Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said
the new rules would shutter power plants and drive up electricity costs.

"I will do everything I can to stop
it," he said.

The Republican Speaker of the House of
Representatives, John Boehner, called the plan an "energy tax" that
the administration wanted to issue during a slow recovery from recession.

"I believe this final plan is an
expensive, arrogant insult to Americans who are struggling to make ends
meet," he said.

Obama rejected criticism that his plan
would increase energy bills for Americans, hurt the poor, and cost jobs.